For most of the season, the Texas Rangers saw their pitchers deliver on the mound without the backing of their hitters.
For much of the season, the New York Yankees saw their pitching and offense mesh together as the team surged to the top of the American League.
After putting together both elements, the Rangers hope to duplicate it while the Yankees attempt to bounce back from a rare quiet showing when the teams conclude a three-game series in New York on Thursday afternoon.
Texas heads into the finale of the season series with a 3.69 ERA on the year, but a .237 team batting average is contributing to a 17-19 record. After Jacob deGrom uncharacteristically allowed six runs in a 7-4 loss on Tuesday, Nathan Eovaldi gave up three hits and one run in eight innings during the Rangers’ 6-1 win on Wednesday.
Eovaldi was dominating, and the Rangers backed him by scoring more than five runs for the seventh time this season and first time since April 23 against Pittsburgh.
Texas saw Corey Seager homer and hit an RBI single after the shortstop was 4-for-31 in his previous eight games. Seager drove in more than one run for the first time in 11 games.
Rangers center fielder Evan Carter ended an 0-for-23 skid with a double on Tuesday, then hit a two-run homer the next day. He still is just 10-for-69 (.145) in his past 23 games.
“It’s nice to see,” Texas manager Skip Schumaker said of Carter’s progress. “I know the guys were excited to push across a few runs for Evo (Eovaldi). I think that’s the main thing, they’re trying to give these pitchers a cushion. … They’re trying to win the game and do whatever they can, and after the game they’ll try to learn from what happened.”
The Yankees have 15 victories in their past 18 games, but they were held down on Wednesday after scoring 46 runs in a five-game winning streak. New York finished with three hits, its second-lowest total this season, and scored fewer than two runs for the fifth time.
Aaron Judge hit his major-league-leading 15th homer, and he has 12 in his past 23 games. Cody Bellinger finished 1-for-3 after going 10-for-19 (.526) during the winning streak.
Following Eovaldi’s gem, MacKenzie Gore (2-2, 4.67 ERA) will attempt to rebound from his shortest outing as a Ranger.
Gore last pitched on Friday, when he allowed three runs on four hits in 3 2/3 innings during a no-decision at Detroit. Texas won the game 5-4.
Gore is 1-2 with a 4.20 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees, all with the Washington Nationals.
Ryan Weathers was originally slated to start for New York, but an illness prompted the Yankees to move his next start back to Monday in Baltimore. Weathers was feeling sick after his start on Saturday and was able to play catch but not able to complete his preparation for Thursday.
“I pitched, then went home and pretty much threw my guts out for several hours,” Weathers said. “I thought I just had food poisoning, but woke up the next day and was running a 102 (degree) temp. I was just pretty much bedridden for a couple of days.”
Paul Blackburn (1-1, 3.21 ERA) is scheduled to make his first start since joining the Yankees in August. He will be pitching three days after throwing 17 pitches to finish New York’s 12-1 rout of the Orioles on Monday. Blackburn has pitched twice since April 26 and has not thrown more than 43 pitches in his nine appearances.
Blackburn is 0-3 with a 12.00 ERA in six career appearances (five starts) against the Rangers.
–Field Level Media
